Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Day Twelve

Blog update! Turns out we had capacity issues on Picassa so our older posts have lost their photos. We have rectified the situation and will be reloading all photos at our earliest opportunity. Kudos to Peter for figuring this one out (along with everything else)!

Now for the new news:
We put a lot of miles behind us today, but managed to have fun and find a few interesting things to do along the way. The Missoula KOA was weird, as noted earlier, and the woman in the tent next to ours (we'll call her Whiney Wanda One-Volume) woke up at 4:30 when it started sprinkling (as did we) and began whining to her husband about the rain, etc in her outside voice. She could have been in our tent. We decided to pack up before the rain got heavy and put that campsite behind us.

We stopped for breakfast at the Coffee Cup Cafe in Hamilton, MT, for breakfast at the bar with the locals. Good food to get us going. Pete really wanted to get in one more fishing hole before we left Montana and we found the Wally Crawford access to the Bitterroot River outside Darby. I was happy to skip the fishing this time and restore order to our road-home, including getting off the layer of dust we picked up inside and out climbing the mountain to Garnet. I loved this old school house that was near the river.

Looking for a grocery store to get lunch, we stopped in Chellis, a strange little town that was apparently begun by farmers who have since departed. It seemed part ghost town with its empty, boarded up old-west-style buildings, but we found a cute little store where we picked up some mementos. The grocery store was on the way out of town so we stopped there, saw the only other car with a Maine plate for days (hey, maybe we knew them!), got our picnic lunch and got back on the road.

One more pit stop and we soon arrived at something completely different: Craters of the Moon National Monument. Acres of lava fields, old cones and ash, which pioneers actually tried to navigate years ago. This was both Peter's and my first climb up an old volcano. All in all, a bizarre and fun experience. This is me walking on the top of the tallest (defunct) spout.

A lone tree that was hanging on in the crazy wind at the top...it felt like you could get blown off of there.

That's Pete up there, taken from the bottom--and he's actually only about halfway up.

On our way to our night stop in Elko, Nevada, we passed over the bridge over the Snake River where Evel Knievel did his crazy and unsuccessful jump in a rocket-car. It's beautiful and very deep!

I just got a kick out of this.

Time for dinner and a good night's sleep, Hope to hit my brother's house in California by late tomorrow afternoon!

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Day 11/Butte, prison museum, Rock Creek & Garnet, MT

Today we started in Butte and ended up in Missoula...not a lot of miles, but an eventful day still! We started driving until hunger and curiosity stopped us in Deerlodge at the Deerlodge Bakery, also oddly known as Louie's Montana Beef Pasties. We had a quick breakfast of BFPs (big fat pastries) and then were drawn to visit the Old Montana Prison. It was as creepy as we expected it to be, with its dark passageways, solitary, dark punishment cells and confinement cells (where women could be handcuffed to a sliding rail to keep them from doing themselves harm).

Here's a shot of the tower into which a bazooka was shot during a riot and attempted breakout.

These shoes have cement soles...an interesting solution for troublesome inmates that tended to "travel."

This shot of the theater just happens to contain the gallows as well (which I didn't even notice when I took it).

After the museum, we tried a few more Montana fishing holes. This was Rock Creek--very pretty but no fish on our hooks (though I did see a nice one jump).

Our big event of the day was Garnet, MT, the most intact ghost town in Montana (and I'm willing to bet, in the country). The ride to get there was an event itself: 11 miles up a mountain on a narrow, winding dirt road with sharp switchbacks and huge drop offs. It was a spectacle and a first for us both. The town grew up around a garnet mine, which is why it is situated so high up.

These photos show the hotel, which must have been amazing. It still has wallpaper hanging from the walls and furniture and carpets that has sat there for years. Apparently it boasted chandeliers at one time, too. It was three floors of incredible history.

Here are some shots of the road we followed to get there and back: beautiful and treacherous (and bumpy for my poor little Honda! It was a trooper!).

We arrived in Missoula for dinner. Started at the Kettlehouse Brewery, which had good beer, but no food. They recommended The Old Post, where we sat outside and enjoyed some local color with our dinner. We had to check out the Oxford, a bar that Peter recalled from his rugby days. It hasn't been closed for 30 years...24 hours a day. Just like LL Bean, only totally different, though they did have guns there. We learned how to play Keno and had a game of pool before heading to our campsite for the night, the Missoula KOA. This is one odd KOA. It seems to be set up right in the middle of a trailer park where people actually live year round. But it is a nice grassy spot and we're looking forward to sleeping in our tent. Tomorrow, Idaho!

Check-in 08/30

We've been reading about all the devastation wreaked by Irene. It makes me feel guilty to be so far away and having so much fun. I hope everyone and everyone's family is doing well. It looks like we might have a hard time coming back right now, so I guess it's a good thing we won't be headed east again for a few more days. Take care! t & p

Monday, August 29, 2011

Days Eight, Nine and Ten/Yellowstone and Montana

Ok, we're back! A three-day blog...yikes. I'll call Friday "Welcome to Yellowstone." We knew we'd have signal trouble, but we didn't realize how much. It turned out to be a welcome rest from being connected, though, I have to admit. Yellowstone was like nothing I've ever experienced. Once again, pictures fail to portray fully the awe-inspiring beauty, the grandeur of the mountains, the vastness of the meadows, the depths of the gorges, the heights of the waterfalls, the crazily-pitched inclines we saw cows and buffalo walking around on... but we kept on snapping anyway! We grabbed the first open campsite we found (not our first choice, which we're now glad of as it was in bearier country and we've since heard that a man was killed by a grizzly while hiking alone on Friday in very beary country; no one knows what really happened, but it was scary to hear nonetheless). Our site was at Tower Falls, and we used it as our base for two nights. We put down roots! Here is a bit of what we saw. First, as it was open range country, we saw cows...

Then, we saw buffalo. Lots of buffalo.

Then we saw geyser after geyser. We had no idea how much of the US is just a hot, thin crust covering boiling water with brilliantly colored microorganisms. The crazy-looking spouts were everywhere, steam puffing up from holes large and small for miles. The runoff caused brightly colored landscapes around the spouts as well. The hot steam and sulfurous odor kept us from lingering too long, but it was a singular experience (each time we checked out a new area, which we did the next day, too, when you'll see more color).

Here's some of the scenery we enjoyed, including the falls near our campsite.

And me with my toes in the Yellowstone River.

I''ll call day nine "Buffalo, fish and crater day." We got up with the sun and headed to Slough (pronounced slew). There was a buffalo between us and our desired spot, and I was not keen on getting anywhere near him, but Pete was not going to be deterred, so we took our time and crept by. On our way back, we found that he had acquired a buffalo buddy, but we were able to skirt by them, giving them both plenty of room. I was still pretty nervous, but smiled (sort of) for the camera as requested!

We didn't have much luck at Slough, so we headed for the Lamar.

There was a herd of buffalo on the far shore, so we felt perfectly safe heading down to the rocky shore to fish. That's when Pete caught the Cutthroat trout in the previous photo, and below. They're a threatened species, so fishers have to be very careful and not even remove them from the water. All fish hooks have to be debarbed, too. Shortly after that, we suddenly realized we weren't alone. Behind us, another buffalo herd appeared on the hill and it was clear they intended to cross. I moved back toward Peter, wondering where we would go if they decided to cross on both sides of us. Much to my relief, they all went to our right and were not at all concerned with us, hence, the photo of Pete and the buffalo...they were about 50 feet behind him (and 60 in front of me!). It was, without a doubt, the most exhilarating experience of my life!

We went back to camp for breakfast, then off to see Old Faithful. Lots of colorful geysers on the way and on the way back, and more beautiful scenery.

Here's the big one...

...which we watched from the porch of the beautiful visitor's center with an Old Faithful Ale and Stuart Coffey, who is cycling the TransAmerica Trail in 60 days and also keeping a blog at crazyguyonabike.com/stuartcoffey. Wow.

Some wildlife...

Yellowstone Lake...(it's rather large).

And Pete at Lower Falls.

And another day comes to a close, while we enjoy a camp meal of hot dogs and beans.

Now for today...day ten: "Montana fishing and Butte." We woke at camp, packed up and headed out of Yellowstone, reluctantly. If we were going to spend two days on this trip anchored in one place, we chose well. We wanted to get in more fishing, so after breakfast in Livingston, we purchased Montana licenses. Here's a shot of an interesting (and slightly nerve wracking) rock formation near our camp site, the Yellowstone exit and Livingston, MT.

Montana is big-sky country and the views are spectacular. I love the old buildings (a real ghost town is on the books for tomorrow--yay!).

Looking for fishing holes off the beaten path, we ran across this remnant of a town near Twin Forks.

We fished at a couple of out-of-the-way places, then the Missouri in Fairweather, where ironically, a storm came up and we ran for cover.

Tonight, we stopped in Butte, an interesting mining town with a lot of history and hills, as well as Montana Tech, situated at the top of the town. The downtown is a unique mix of old storefronts, crazy hills, beautiful old west architecture nestled next to new buildings, poverty and nice restaurants, one of which was recommended in our AAA book, Metals Sports Bar and Grille. Everything was very good, from the nachos to the BBQ plate Pete had to my Southwestern pasta. We tried Quarry, local beers, and Pete had his first Moose Drool, which was molasses-flavored but lighter than Guinness. There is a very large safe in the building, built around 1905.

In the distance, you can see the huge Madonna that sits over the town. We haven't figured out what it's made of, but it lights up at night like a beacon. One other strange thing about Butte--there seem to be a lot of dogs running around without collars or owners. It had a creepy effect that made even a small yappy dog we passed look menacing!

After dinner, we drove around town, found a high spot and watched the sunset.

Back to our room (where we had a much-appreciated shower earlier) to do laundry and catch up with everyone. Not even halfway through our trip and we've done so much my head swims to think of it. Very happy, very tired. Goodnight!